Two Amongst Equals
by SeungSeiRan
Summary: Fifty sentences concerning Shigure and Akito Sohma.


Disclaimer: I don't own Fruits Basket.

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**#01 – Ring**

A promise was what she'd dubbed the metal ring around his finger; he thought 'entrapment' was a better term.

**#02 – Hero**

Rumor had it among the younger Sohmas that there had once been a time when Akito had stuck herself up the old tree at the bottom of the garden when she was a wee knee-high nipper and Shigure had been the one to rescue the sulking toddler from her predicament like she was a helpless little kitten.

**#03 – Memory**

The worst thing about his hangover was that it wasn't her scent etched in his memories of the previous night nor were those her clothes strewn about the floor next to his.

**#04 – Box**

He held many things in that heart-shaped box of his, not least the pain of her replacement of him.

**#05 – Run**

As much it hurt, he'd never run away from the sound of her voice, filled with harsh mirthless laughter as it echoed throughout the room.

**#06 – Hurricane**

Akito hated Shigure's new bicycle; it made her cough in the twisters of dust he left behind in his wake.

**#07 – Wings**

When he was with her, as she lay beside him, content for the first time in years, he felt like he had new reasons to keep on flying.

**#08 – Cold**

Anyone of them would do for now; just as long as she wasn't cold, broken and reeking of camellias like Akito.

**#09 – Red**

She took one look at the red velvet lettering on the book and promptly cast it aside, muttering that he could surely come up with a better title.

**#10 – Drink**

"I hate you," Shigure muttered as he rubbed at the red stains on his shirt, right where she'd flung her drink at him, "So much."

**#11 – Midnight**

Akito had a habit of awaking suddenly in the middle of the night, at the stroke of twelve, wishing that dreams were true; that she was indeed a princess waiting for a knight to come and take her home.

**#12 – Temptation**

Heaven forbid that Akito should live as long as he had; the years ahead of him tempted him to break down further than she would eventually.

**#13 – View**

The last time Shigure had been on a train, he'd gazed at patches of wilting bellflowers and wondered if Kureno was holding up well under her rule.

**#14 – Music**

As the music reached its crescendo outside her door, the knife descended further down the skin of her wrist and she wondered if he could hear her heart beating in his head.

**#15 – Silk**

This was how he'd always remember her; pale, cold, broken, alone and wrapped in a cocoon of silk in her coffin.

**#16 – Cover**

He hid his tears beneath the cover of rain and hail that poured upon them at her funeral.

**#17 – Promise**

He'd promised her that he'd be there throughout all the battles they'd have to face and now look at what he'd gone and done…

**#18 – Dream **

Sometimes, a teenage Shigure would dream that Akito was a tad bit older because he much preferred _her_ in a maid's uniform instead of Ayame.

**#19 – Candle**

On New Year's Eve, he joined the throng of church-revelers and lit a candle; not for himself, of course.

**#20 – Talent**

If there was anything Akito was truly talented in, it was knowing how to hit where it hurt without as much as giving it a single thought, Shigure knew.

**#21 – Silence**

One harsh glance was all it took for her to get her point across and he knew that without asking aloud.

**#22 – Journey**

The road ahead was a long one but she wasn't alone as she'd thought anymore.

**#23 – Fire**

The main house may have burned all night for all the pent-up anger bottled up within it as Shigure took his leave.

**#24 – Strength**

It would take every inch of him not to yield to her shrill whip of a voice as it chastised him for past sins, long past but never forgotten.

**#25 – Mask**

To most, Akito was the picture of calm cool poise but Shigure had seen the face behind the mask and it wasn't all that perfect.

**#26 – Ice**

He was bleeding, shot through the heart, perhaps some ice would stop the hemorrhage; but then again, he wasn't damaged the least bit in the physical sense.

**#27 – Fall**

How hard the beloved can fall, he mused bitterly as she tossed her head and walked away from him.

**#28 – Forgotten**

And here he was, smoking his umpteenth cigarette and heaping curse upon curse on her and Kureno, forgotten and abandoned like an origami crane after a celebration.

**#29 – Dance**

As a child, Akito had no dresses to wear since her mother forbade it; Shigure still asked her to dance at the family banquet anyway.

**#30 – Body**

When the misery was subdued, they both would stand and deliver their expected lines, all passion muted and reduced to momentary spasms in the body.

**#31 – Sacred**

Childhood should have been a sacred thing where innocence was coveted above all other traits but as Sohmas, they'd found out too early that time and tide were indeed against them.

**#32 – Farewells**

They'd never even said goodbye when he left; she could almost hear her mother cackling at her handiwork in the background.

**#33 – World**

What in the world caused foolish young high-school girls (and a few boys) to croon over his garish prose in print was beyond her understanding.

**#34 – Formal**

A photograph hangs on the wall, a formal one with all of them crammed into one frame, and neither of them are smiling at the distance between them in it.

**#35 – Fever**

Fevers made you see things that weren't there, like his hand on hers for comfort.

**#36 – Laugh**

Maybe cleaning windows wasn't really that bad if it made Akito laugh in her crib when his sponge squeaked against the glass.

**#37 – Lies**

After she'd thrown him out from the main house, he contemplated going back and then changed his mind once he realized that her mind had been poisoned by Ren's lies.

**#38 – Forever**

"Forever's not an option, Akito, but we have today and many more todays ahead of us so let's not worry, shall we?"

**#39 – Overwhelmed**

Her hand shook in his and her eyes watered when she realized that she wasn't dreaming after all.

**#40 – Whisper**

"Shigure… your belt is undone. What's that you said?... Intentional?"

**#41 – Wait**

He was often found in the backyard, counting down the days and waiting for a moment where he could wipe away their past with a flick of the wrist like it was magic.

**#42 – Talk**

Talk was pointless when Shigure was involved since he knew exactly how to mix his metaphors and blanch his similes in order to keep her in the dark about his true motives.

**#43 – Search**

The day little Akito ran off was a day wasted for most of the Sohma elders, especially when they eventually found her curled up beneath the sheets at the foot of Shigure's futon.

**#44 – Hope**

In the Sohma household, everyone knew better than to speak of hope in front of Akito, no thanks to Shigure and his penchant for injecting spite into every sin he committed.

**#45 – Eclipse**

Darkness was supposed to be a temporary thing in such time so perhaps all they both needed was to wait for the sun to come out.

**#46 – Gravity**

_Keep your head to the ground, no man could ever desire you _became a phrase banished to the back of her mind along with gravity, inertia and whatever home-spun lesson her mother had instilled in her whenever Shigure kissed her.

**#47 – Highway**

Akito wasn't very fond of traveling, even at short distances, but she still liked the familiarity of the stray dogs on the road.

**#48 – Unknown**

"To be afraid of the unknown is to be afraid of truth itself which is why I'm shivering right now, Shigure."

**#49 – Lock**

Since the day the curse was lifted, she'd stopped searching for locks to guard herself from rejection and he'd understood that keys often have the most deceivingly obvious hiding-places.

**#50 – Breathe**

She had been dreaming again but this time, instead of the sound of the tides turning, it was the melody of his steady breathing that made her sigh in relief and dare to continue onwards.


End file.
